Ambulatory cardiac monitoring is a way to watch and record the electrical activity of your heart. It is done as you go about your daily activities. Most of the recording devices are roughly the size of a pager or cell phone.

This test is used to determine whether the heart may be beating too slow or too fast and to detect any abnormalities in heart rhythm.

Your heartbeat is regulated by electrical impulses. Sometimes there are abnormalities with these impulses. When the abnormality is happening all the time, it is easy to find in the doctor's office. But sometimes the problem comes and goes. Ambulatory cardiac monitoring records your heart’s electrical activity for long periods of time. The length of time makes it much more likely to catch an abnormality that comes and goes.